Surveillance footage released at a news conference at the Public DefenderÍs office allegedly shows police using excessive force during an August 16, 2011 call regarding two men arguing outside a Richmond District market. The video shows officers interrogating, and eventually handcuffing and searching market owner Charles Tran, shown pressed against a wall to the right, 44, who was not involved in the fight and has no criminal history.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi Thursday accused a group of San Francisco police officers of stealing thousands of dollars in cash and valuables in what he described as a wide-ranging pattern of dishonesty.

"If this has been going on for some time, which we believe, we have to believe senior officers were aware of this," Adachi said at a news conference.

Police officials declined to comment on the new allegations, saying that the complaints would be transferred to federal authorities as part of a months-old FBI investigation into reported police misconduct in San Francisco.

Police Chief Greg Suhr "has made it clear that there is no place for dishonest cops in the city," said Officer Carlos Manfredi, a department spokesman. "But it's important to remember that everyone, including police officers, has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty."

The public defender released details of five cases investigated by his office in recent months that he said show "a disturbing pattern of theft by police officers at Mission Station."

The alleged thefts included $10,000 of the $23,000 a man had in a safe when he was taken into custody in June in connection with a case that was later dismissed.

In other instances, officers are accused of taking a watch, computer, camera and another $3,200 in cash, including $500 a woman said was stolen from her daughter's piggy bank.

Three of the cases took place this year and two in 2010. Most occurred around the time of a number of other incidents of alleged illegal searches, excessive force, theft and perjury by officers at Mission and Southern stations that Adachi detailed last spring.

Most of those incidents involved drug arrests at a number of the city's SRO hotels. Questions raised about those arrests forced the district attorney's office to drop 94 criminal cases.

"Dishonesty of this kind cannot be tolerated," Adachi said. "When officers are engaged in acts of theft, the whole criminal justice system is endangered."

Adachi also released video footage of what he said was a Richmond District merchant treated in an "unconscionable and unconstitutional" manner by officers who briefly detained and handcuffed him and then allegedly lied about the incident in their report.

The silent video, taken from the store's closed-circuit television, shows the merchant, 44-year-old Charles Tran, and Officer Joseph Filamor talking when the officer grabbed Tran by the arm, handcuffed him and pushed him against the wall of a building before forcing him onto the ground. Tran was released 15 minutes later, with no charges filed.

According to the police report, Tran had become aggressive, balled up his fist and had taken a fighting stance when Filamor handcuffed him.

Tran denied the accusation and accused the officers of lying.

The incident "is further evidence of a Police Department culture that ignores residents' rights and permits officers to perjure themselves in order to justify their conduct," Adachi said in a statement.

But police saw the video differently and noted that the original dispatch call said the merchant had a knife.

Tran "had his right hand clenched, a rigid stance and was beginning to lean forward," when the officer defused the situation by handcuffing him, Manfredi said. While police will investigate the incident, there was nothing in the video that raised red flags, he added.

Adachi, who is running for mayor in Tuesday's election, denied that politics played any role in the timing of the news conference.

"As public defender, I have an obligation to protect the public," he said. Although he thought about delaying the report until after the election, "it would have been wrong for me to postpone this."